At MESA 2019, Djodi Deutsch, Academic Programs Manager for the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE), participated in a discussion on doing research in Egypt today; she based this on years of working with ARCE fellows conducting dissertation research and other projects. She kindly shared this list of research sites in Egypt with us (and on social media!) to share with you. Note these are not archive reviews –we’ve hyperlinked the research sites that we do have reviews for– but we are working on bringing you Egypt-specific archive reviews, along with other content. Feel free to drop us a line at hazineblog@gmail.com if you want to write us a piece! For now, this guide should help you get a general sense of what is out there.
Obviously Dar al-Wathaiq (the National Archives) and Dar al-Kutub are still accessible. Dar al-Wathaiq requires a lengthy application process you can begin by visiting the location on the Corniche. Dar al-Kutub, both at the Corniche and Bab al-Khalq are running as usual: these repositories are good for rare books, manuscripts, and periodicals.
The Coptic Canadian History Project (CCHP) also has a list, written by Amy Fallas and Weston Bland, on archives in Egypt and the US. The CCHP is also working in collaboration with immigrants and have a growing archival collection with York University Libraries in Toronto.
Here is the list itself, compiled by Djodi Deutsch
- Al-Azhar University; al-Azhar Library
- American University in Cairo
- National Judicial Studies Center
- Central Library (al-Sayyidah Zaynab)
- Bibliotheca Alexandrina
- Alexandria Municipal Library
- Institute of Arabic Manuscripts
- Majma al-Lugha al-‘Arabi
- Institut français d’archéologie orientale (IFAO)
- Nederlands-Vlaams Instituut in Cairo (NVIC)
- American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE)
- Coptic Museum and Patriarchate
- St. Catherine’s Monastery Library
- Dominican Institute for Oriental Studies (IDEO)
- Franciscan Centre of Christian Oriental Studies
- Cairo International Book Fair (every January/February, dates change yearly)
- Suq al-Ezbekiyya
- Egyptian Radio and Television Archive
- Al Ahram
- Akhbar al-Yawm Newspaper Archive
- Ruz al Yusuf Foundation
- Dar Al Hilal Newspaper Archive
- Dār al-Karmah, Dār al-Tanwīr, and Dār al-Maḥrūsah (publishing houses)
- Wekalet Behna
- Egyptian Olympic Committee
- Cimatheque Cairo – Alternative Film Center
- Agricultural Museum
- Dar al-Mahfuzat al-ʿUmumiyya